Watford v Liverpool preview, betting tips and enhanced odds

What are the chances Mane will celebrate his contract extension with a goal?

Posted by Tom Bodell

Liverpool's Sadio Mane celebrates scoring his side's fourth goal of the game

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A trip to Vicarage Road isn’t the easiest way to restart the season after the international break, but it’s also not the hardest. In fact, Liverpool have won 16 of the 22 league meetings between the sides throughout their history, and four of the six since Watford were last promoted to the Premier League. Although they’re only separated by five places, there are ten whole points between them. Jurgen Klopp will be hoping that his side can get the three points to continue to put pressure on Manchester City at the top of the league.

Our friends at Football Whispers have previewed the match with some betting tips.

Check out our Liverpool specials

New contract

The outpouring of love that came when it was announced that Sadio Mane had extended his contract to 2023 was a sign of the Senegal winger’s contribution to the club. The 26-year-old has scored 29 Premier League goals for the Reds during his time at Anfield, and he’s sure to have been given a boost by the contract extension.

Fan Boost: Sadio Mane to score and Liverpool to win, WAS 2.75 NOW 3.25*

Goals, goals, goals

Jurgen Klopp’s side have looked slightly less relentless in attack this season than they have been during his tenure, but this could be the match to change that. There have been five or more goals in three of the past four meetings of these two sides. In those last four matches, the Reds scored 15 of the 19 total goals. Even with this perception of a less effective attack, Liverpool have averaged just under two goals per match in the league.

Fan Boost: Liverpool to win and over 3.5 goals, WAS 3.25 NOW 3.65*

Midtable Watford

Despite the Hornets strong start, winning their first four games, they’ve since stuttered and reverted to midtable form. Before the international break, they lost to Newcastle United and drew with Southampton, two clubs struggling towards the bottom of the table. Watford only narrowly outshoot their opponents in matches, averaging 12.5 shots per match for and 10.33 against, a difference of +2.17. Liverpool’s shot difference per game is +6.58.

Fan Boost: Liverpool to win to nil, WAS 2.50 NOW 2.85*

What markets to look for

Although he hasn’t hit the Premier League with quite the same storm as he whipped up last year, Mohamed Salah is still one of the most lethal attacking players in the league. ‘Expected goals’ is a statistic that judges the quality of chances that a team or player has. Salah leads Liverpool for the highest expected goal value to come from his shots, as well as the highest expected goal value to come from the shots that he sets up. Meanwhile, Watford have only kept three clean sheets all season.

Mohamed Salah to score anytime, 1.74*

Mohamed Salah, over 0.5 assists, 3.50*

*odds subject to change

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